Friendly Fire
by joanderson
Summary: what happens when you decided to cross the line of friendship? will you get caught in the middle of friendly fire?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Robotech or any of the characters. This was only written for fun

Author's note: This fic takes place during the missing years of reconstruction and it's an AU, so I hope you like it but I must warn you this came up to my mind after watching certain tv show too many times, so I can guarantee that this will be full of surprises.

Reviews: please, I'll be waiting them; it's what keeps me writing.

To: Carla, honey this was your b-day present and I promise I will finish this ASAP. And special thanks to D, thank you soooo much for beta this for me I know it was a lot of work, so thank you soooo much!. To every one who takes the time to read it and to everyone on the DYRL forum.

"**Friendly Fire"**

Chapter one

"The Spark"

The door from Lisa's house opened loudly and behind it Lisa appeared laughing out loud.

"I told you that you were putting the key in backwards" she said between laughs as she walked inside the house.

"Come on I couldn't see a thing" Rick protested.

"You know very well that it has nothing to do with the light, Captain" Lisa said teasingly.

"What are you implying Captain?" Rick answered using the same tone that she had used.

"I'll turn on the lights for our safety" Lisa said ignoring him and started to walk in the dark.

"Watch out" Rick said and grabbed Lisa who staggered a little bit while searching for the light switch, but he staggered too and they ended up against the wall. Rick was holding Lisa by the waist while she had her back hardly pressed against the wall because the whole of Rick's weight was resting against her.

Lisa looked at him in the eyes and start to laugh again, uncontrollably, and Rick followed her a few seconds later.

"At least we turned on the lights" Rick said between laughs

"At least now there's light so you could move, you are all over me Captain" Lisa said with a grin.

"You are the one who put me on this position" Rick said and the more he spoke the more he got closer to Lisa, to the point that when he finished the sentence their noses where almost touching each other. They just remained looking "in" each other's eyes until Lisa finally spoke.

"Like I said Captain a cup of coffee and two aspirins" She said and slid between his arms and started to walk to the kitchen.

"Right" Rick said, a slight of disappointment could be heard in his voice and finally he followed her.

When Rick entered the kitchen Lisa has already turned the coffee maker on, and was leaving two mugs next to it.

"I just remembered that Roy always said that the best remedy for a hangover was a beer" Rick said while he rests his weight against the counter.

"I can't believe that I had forgot that, of course it is" Lisa said and started to walk to the refrigerator.

"Forgot that? How can you even know that?" asked Rick with curiosity while he turned in her direction.

"Come on I was at the RDF academy, I was young once too you know" Lisa said and only her head could be seen behind the refrigerator door.

"You were young?" He asked to annoy her, and before he finished a tomato flew by inches away from his head.

"How dare you?" protested Lisa, with one hand on her wait and two beers in the other.

"Ok, Ok" Said Rick and raised his hands up, just as he was surrendering. "But really, you? Knowing the tricks to avoid a hangover? That's a surprise coming from miss "I was the best in the academy".

"Why is it so surprising that I had a life back then! I was 18 and I went to parties and woke up with a hangover at least once, I didn't spend all my time between books" Lisa said upset.

"If you say so" said Rick in disbelief and "shrugged" his shoulders. He walked next to her and "grabbed" one of the beers that she was holding.

"Argh" Lisa mumbled angry.

"You look so cute when you get angry" Rick teased her and Lisa just raised an eyebrow, still pissed off.

"It's not funny" Lisa protested.

"See, I love the way you raised that eyebrow" Rick said with a grin.

"Shut up" said Lisa started to walk to the living room.

"Oh come on, come back" Rick said and followed her. "Fine I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Come on Lisa don't be mad, I'm sorry".

"You're so easy Captain" Lisa said with a grin when Rick appeared in the living room.

"What's that supposed to mean Captain?" Rick asked surprised.

"You know what it means" Lisa said defiant

"You really believe that you can handle me, Captain?" Rick said and got closer to her, challenging her.

"I know exactly how to handle you, Captain" Lisa stated and looked at him in the eyes.

"Is that so?" Rick said maintaining her gaze.

"Oh yes, I know very well what buttons to press to make you do what I want" Lisa stated and this time she was the one that got closer to him.

"If you think that you can control me, it's because I let you think that" Rick said and crossed his arms right in front of his chest.

"Do you realice that by saying that you are implying that you are the one who controls me Captain?" Lisa said serious.

"I know perfectly well what I'm implying, Captain" Rick said and got closer to her to look better into her eyes. Lisa just looked back at him straight in the eyes.

"You don't have what it takes to be in control" Lisa said and got closer to him and crossed her arms, they were so close that their arms were touching "You are too explosive".

"And what's wrong with that?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"The problem is that if you want to be in control you have to be cold…" Lisa was saying but Rick interrupted her.

"Like you?" he said.

"Yes, like me" Lisa said and looked at him and she stood on her tip toes, then she whispered in his ear "If you want to take control you need to know your enemy, how to play him" she said and this time she rested her right hand on his shoulder and then continued talking slowly. "Ambush him, and never let him know what your plan is and for that you can't show your emotions, you have to remain cool and right now", Sh, e said and moved way from him and looked at him with an evil grin, ",right now you are flushing Captain" she said and couldn't avoid a smile.

"You are drunk you know that?" He said and shook his head smiling too, trying to hide the fact that his cheeks were red and that Lisa's proximity had affected him.

"As if you weren't" she said and started to laugh while she kicked her shoes off and sat on the couch.

"True" Rick finally admitted, shrugged his shoulder and sat next to her. "Cheers to that, to the fact that we are both a little bit drunk, Captain" he add after he loosened the collar of his jacket.

"Cheers to that, Captain" Lisa said and they clinked their bottles of beer and drink a sip.

"I was trying to remember the last time that I got drunk…not that I remember very much. Roy took me and the boys to a cheap bar on Macross to celebrate the fact that we came back alive from the Zentraedi ship. All that I can remembered is sitting at that bar with a beer in my hand and suddenly Roy said something like "Team Leaders only drink Scotch" and changed my beer for a scotch…the next thing that I remember is waking up in my bed with the biggest headache ever" Rick said and he and Lisa laughed.

"The last time that I got drunk, was when I became the First Officer of the SDF-1, Roy and Claudia went to my place with a bottle of tequila to celebrate…some how I can't remember what happened after shot number 3. I woke up on the couch and Roy was sleeping on a chair in front of me in the most uncomfortable position that you can imagine" Lisa said and then started to laugh "Claudia left him there since the idea of bringing tequila had been his, he should be the one who watched me while I was passed out and she covered me on the bridge." By this point Lisa was laughing so hard that Rick could barely understand what she said between her laughs. "Poor Roy had a stiff neck for 2 days, but I "had" a hangover for almost the same period of time." "If anyone knew about parties and drinks it was Roy Fokker" said Rick when he stoped laughing.

"So true, and I'll drink to him. To Roy Fokker a great friend" Lisa said and took a sip from her bottle.

"To Roy Fokker, my big brother" said Rick and he also drink a sip from his bottle.

"He would be very proud of you, that you became CAG."

"Everything I know I learned it from him" Rick said and remained thoughtful for a while. Then he added "He would be happy for you too, chief of military operations" he said and smiled at her.

"He would probably be here celebrating with us" Lisa answered with a smile.

"Definitely" Rick said with a hint of sadness.

"I miss him too" Lisa said and tenderly put one hand on Rick's shoulder.

"I know, but like I always said my big Bro died doing what he loved the most, flying, and protecting human kind" Rick said with a bittersweet smile.

"Yes he did" Lisa said and looked away from Rick.

"What are you thinking?" Rick asked after a long moment of silence.

"All the people that died, all the pilots who died protecting us, protecting Earth…most of them I can't even remember their names" She said guilty.

"I know, I flew with them I even forgot some of their faces" Rick said feeling guilty too.

"We have fought so much to save Earth, to save human kind and we aren't even enjoying it" Lisa said with a mixture of sadness and frustration.

"I guess is the price to pay to survive, our work will never be over" Rick said with resignation.

"No it wont, it's just that once in a while I would like to go out, to leave the base and see Earth, to walk on a beach, to feel the sand on my feet. To smell the grass, God it must been years since the last time I smelled real grass. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I would love too see what's out there with my own eyes and not through a satellite picture while I plan an operation" Lisa said and shrugged her shoulders.

"I know what you mean, it has been almost a year and a half since we're back on Earth and all that we have been doing is work, I spend all day on my VT watching from the canopy the world and unable to enjoy it, unable to land and just be there. Just like you spend all your day on the base planning Ops. We risk our lives everyday to protect the world and we can't enjoy it."

"But we can't quit, we can't not protect it. So tomorrow you will be on your VT and I'll be on the base, because that's where we are needed, to protect Earth and save the future."

"An Earth that we will not enjoy and a future that we might not live because, you and I can get killed any day in the line of duty" Rick said and was about to take another sip of his beer when Lisa interrupted him.

"Cheers to that, for the Earth that we won't enjoy and a future that we might not live, Captain" Lisa said and they clinked their bottles.

"Cheers to that Captain" Rick said and they both drank from their bottles.

"Now we are into the stage of drunkenness when we are feeling pity for ourselves" Lisa joked and Rick looked at her and smiled.

"It will be a shame tho" he said thoughtfully and Lisa looked at him with curiosity. "That the world won't see you with your cap." He added and put Lisa's cap on her head.

"Rick" Lisa complained and punched him hard on the shoulder.

"Ouch" Rick groaned and then started to laugh. "Come on you look so cute with your Captain Cap on."

"Very funny" She said fighting with him to remove the cap off of her head.

"I'm serious you look between cute and sexy" He said and winked at her, but that only earned him another punch.

"If you're expecting for me to say that you look cute in your cap, sorry but that ain't going to happen."

"Ouch" Rick said and touched his heart as if Lisa's words had hurt him.

"I prefer you with your messy hair" Lisa said with a grin.

"Oh come on and I worked so hard to try to comb it" Rick said looking hurt.

"Like I said, I like it messy" Lisa said and ran her hand through Rick's hair messing it up. When she finished she laid back on the couch and smiled at him, Rick smiled back at her and suddenly he got closer to her, resting one hand on the arm of the couch so he could looked at her right in the eyes.

"I never would have imagined that you like it wild" Rick said with a grin.

"I'm a box full of surprises Captain" Lisa said trying to look cool, but as Rick got closer harder it was for her to remain cool.

"I can see that" He said with a whisper and slowly grasped one lock of Lisa's hair that was on her face, then he placed it carefully behind one of her ears and whispered to her "You never stop surprising me, Captain"

"Good" Lisa whispered too, because of the closeness of Rick.

"You are flushing you know?" Rick said teasingly.

"It's the beer" Lisa justified herself.

"I don't think it has to do with the beer" Rick whispered in her ear as if he was telling her a secret.

"Do you think there's another reason for me to flush?" Lisa asked raising an eyebrow, defiant.

"I don't know you tell me" Rick challenged her.

"You've got quite of a ego if you think I'm flushing because of you" Lisa stated and some how managed to cross her arms, even when Rick was just a few inches away from her. Rick looked at her with intensity but Lisa didn't even blink, so finally he started to laugh.

"That's why you like me so much" Rick said between laughs.

"You like me?" Lisa questioned.

"Yes" Rick answered with out even thinking.

"Captain Hunter likes the old sourpuss" Lisa said with a grin.

"Lisa…"Rick was trying to justify but Lisa interrupted him.

"No really, I like you. You surprised me Captain" Lisa said teasingly.

"It's not that…" Rick tried to say but she interrupted him again.

"Roy mentioned once, that his little brother was dating an older girl, so you really like old woman" Lisa said and this time she was the one that move forward, so they were only inches away again.

"That was dif…" Rick said but Lisa interrupted again.

"So really, you like me?" Lisa asked skeptically, most of it to tease him.

Rick just looked at her and felt how he was flushing and suddenly he moved forward and pressed Lisa against the couch. "What if I did? What if you really like me?" he said and Lisa opened her eyes widely because of the surprise. Finally she laughed.

"I'm not joking" Rick stated and looked at her straight in the eyes.

"I never said you were" Lisa said and looked at him back, challenging him.

"So" Rich whispered.

"So?" Lisa asked raising an eyebrow.

"What are you going to do about it?" Rick said and placed his other hand on the back of the couch, so now he had Lisa cornered against it.

"Wrong question" Lisa said and then she moved closer to him and whispered to his ear, "the right question would be, what are YOU going to do about it?" she said and separated from him to looked at his reaction.

"It depends" Rick said with a sexy grin.

"On what?" Lisa asked with the same grin.

"On…" Rick said and moved closer to her, without stoping looked into her eyes. "What do you want me to do?" he added, and they were so close that he could feel the warmth of Lisa's skin.

Lisa maintained his gaze, and instinctively bit her lower lip while she tried to think of how to answer him, but they were so close that she could hear the beat of his heart and it was so loud that it wouldn't allow her to think.

_8 hours earlier._

Lisa was walking down the corridors of the RDF main building in New Macross city. Today was promotion day, so there she was full dress uniform, her hair arranged in the traditional chignon that regulations ordered when you where in full dress uniform and all her medals correctly place on her uniform jacket. Secretly Lisa never liked the full dress uniform very much, not because of the uniform itself but because what wearing implied it, and that meant a pompous ceremony, with pompous officers who didn't have a clue what is to be on a battlefield.

She tried to release a little bit her collar before entering the Main hall, she took a huge breath and put her collar back in place and checked that her uniform was immaculate.

"So I'm not the only one who found it uncomfortable to wear this" a male voice said behind her.

"It's not the uniform it's the people" Lisa said turning in his direction smiling.

"Yeah right, only because you don't have to wear a cap" Rick said and smiled at her.

"Probably that, but then again you don't have to wear high heels."

"But you wear them every day" Rick protested.

"That's true" Lisa said and looked at him for a while.

"What?" Rick asked when he noticed Lisa's weird gaze.

"I have never seen you in full dress uniform, you look different with a cap."

"Different how?" Rick asked with curiosity.

"Different, I don't know…older...no, not older" Lisa said and she bit her lower lip while she thought of the right words to use. "More mature, yeah that's it, you look more mature."

"I'll take that as a compliment" Rick said raising an eyebrow.

"That was always my intention" Lisa said smiling and Rick smiled at her too.

"You look different too" stated Rick.

"I know, I look more stiff than usual" Lisa said with a frown.

"I was going to say that you look more elegant, I have never saw you with your hair pulled up" Rick said and got closer to her. "You don't look like an stiff Commander, you look beautiful" Rick said finally and he could notice how Lisa's cheeks started to turned pink.

Before Lisa could say anything and before her cheeks turned evidently red, the doors of the main hall opened and Claudia appeared behind them.

"There you are, I was waiting for you" Claudia said and grabbed Lisa's arm.

"Why? What happened?" asked Lisa.

"The ceremony is about to start and we need you there. Don't forget it's the Trio's promotion" Claudia said.

"Of course I know that. How could I forget that?" protest Lisa.

"And thank God you are here too, there's a bunch of pilots from the Skull that are going to be promoted today. You are the one who has to give them their new insignias" Claudia said looking at Rick.

"I know Claudia or do you think that I dress like this because I like to wear a cap?" Rick said and rolled his eyes and entered the room.

The ceremony of promotions was almost over when the Trio's turn to get promoted arrived. The first one to get called was Sammie and Admiral Gloval and Lisa stepped ahead to give her a new pair of insignias. Sammie got promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was assigned to be new flight operator of New Macross RDF base. Then it was Kim's turn to get promoted and this time Claudia and the admiral gave her the new insignias. Lieutenant Commander Young was now the Chief communications officer of the base. Finally it was Vanessa's turn and again Lisa and Admiral Gloval did the honors. Vanessa was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and commissioned to be the new Chief of surveillance operations.

Everything seamed to be over when Claudia, with a serious voice asked Rick to step forward. Rick was completely taken off guard and Claudia had to ask him again to step forward. Rick finally stood up from his chair and looked quizzically at Lisa, but she was as surprised as he was.

When Rick was in the middle of room, Claudia and the admiral got closer to him

"The joint staff of Robotech Defense Forces promote Lieutenant Richard Hunter to the rank of Captain and commission him to act as Commander of the Air group for the North America quadrant of the Robotech Defense Forces" Claudia said reading a document in front of Rick.

Rick just looked at her, he could not believe what he just heard. Time seemed to freeze for him and only when the admiral finished giving him his new insignias that he finally realized that he was now a Captain and not just any captain, he was the new CAG. He didn't know what to feel. Should he be worried or happy?.

"Congratulations Captain Hunter" Claudia said and winked at him smiling.

"Thanks" was all that Rick could say.

"Congratulations Captain, you'll do a good job" said the Admiral and shook Rick's hand.

"Thank you Sir" said Rick and then he saluted the Admiral and started to walk to his seat, and on his way back the first person that he saw was Lisa, who was smiling at him and looking at him with eyes so full of pride that he could not avoid smile back at her. And in that moment he decided that he was happy with his promotion, he felt proud of himself just by seeing how proud she was of him.

But then suddenly Lisa's expression changed drastically, from a sweet smile to consternation and then she slowly stoop up. Rick had been so caught up with Lisa's smile that he didn't even hear Claudia calling Lisa to the center of the main hall.

"The joint staff of Robotech Defense Forces promote Commander Elizabeth Hayes to the rank of Captain and commission her to act as the Commander of military operations for the North America quadrant of the Robotech Defense Forces." Claudia read the document in front of Lisa unable to hide her smile.

And Lisa could only smile back at her, she was completely surprised, she had no clue that she was on the promotion list. She was so surprised that the only thing she could do was smile while general Reinhardt put her the new stars on her uniform.

"Congratulations Captain Hayes" Reinhardt said when he finished.

"Thank you Sir" answered Lisa and shook his hand.

"Congratulations Captain, I'm so proud of you" Admiral Gloval said with a paternal tone of voice while he handed Lisa her new Cap as captain.

"Thank you Sir, I won't let you down" Lisa said with a sweet smile as she put her new Cap on and then she saluted at the admiral.

RDF Officers mess hall

"How could you do that to me? You knew it didn't you? You knew it from the beginning!" Lisa protested when Claudia appeared in the mess hall.

"Of course I knew it, I'm so proud of you!" Claudia said and gave a huge hug to her friend.

"I hate you so much" Lisa said while she hugged Claudia back.

"I know I hate you too" Claudia said laughing still hugging Lisa.

"I'm going to make you pay for this, you know?" Lisa said with a smile.

"Probably, but you will have to find time first" Claudia said and winked at her.

"Very funny" Lisa said and then they both returned to the table where Lisa was.

"Claudia come here to celebrate with us" Sammie said when she saw her.

"Hey Lieutenant Commander Porter" Claudia said and hugged her.

"I know! I feel so old" Sammie said.

"Hey what is left for me, I became a Captain" Lisa protested and everyone laughed.

"I wasn't expecting to be promoted at all" Vanessa said.

"Me neither, did you know about it Lisa?" Rick asked.

"No, this was a surprise for me too. The only one who knew was Claudia" Lisa said.

"Yup, old aunt Claudia knows everything" Claudia said and winked and everyone laughed.

"It was such a surprise! I was ordered to be present on the Main hall because some people from the bridge were going to be promoted, but I never guessed it was going to be me" Kim said.

"Me neither!" Sammie said.

"Cheers to that! To all of you who got promoted" Claudia said and raised her glass of champagne.

They remained in the mess hall, celebrating the promotions and having dinner. Everyone who was promoted was in the mess hall at different tables, the entire Skull squadron was there and many people from the bridge. Lisa, Rick, the trio, Claudia and the Sterlings were at a table a little bit away from the crowd. They had just finished having dinner and now were talking about old days in the Academy.

"Do you remember the time when Kim almost hit Major Sackhoff?" Sammie said between laughs.

"What happened?" Miriya asked.

"I was on leave, and went to a club near the academy with the girls, I was at the bar and a guy came and looked at me with these lascivious eyes…" Kim was saying when Vanessa interrupted her.

"And you know Kim, she looked at the guy and tells him "What is your problem?" The guy moved closer and asked her if he could buy her a drink and Kim just looked at him and said "Why don't you go and take a cold shower" and passed him her glass of iced water" Vanessa said and everyone was laughing.

"But that wasn't all, he followed me and grabbed me by the arm. I was about to punch him when Sammie appeared and took me away. But the worst part was the next morning, we arrived at our new class of military intelligence and guess who was there!" said Kim.

"Major Sackhoff in person, he was the officer in charge of that class and had recently arrived from a classified mission in the artic" said Vanessa.

"I wanted to die, I felt so embarrassed I was hoping that he didn't remember me but at the end of the class he came closer and apologized for his behavior the night before. I just want it to Earth open up and swallow me" Kim said.

"You should have seen Kim's face when he came closer to her" Sammie said between laughs.

"What about when V almost burned our dorm!" Kim said.

"You almost burned the dorm?" Claudia asked between laughs.

"It was an accident!" protested Vanessa.

"She was studying for the finals, she was so immersed in what she was studying that she didn't notice that the heater that was turned on next to her had an electrical short circuit. It was 4 am when I woke up because I got a smell like burned hair" Kim said.

"The thing was burning next to Vanessa and she was trying to memorize the wave longitude to detect submarines on the sonar" Sammie said.

"Come on! That thing always smell like burned hair, that's why I didn't pay attention to the smell" Vanessa protested.

"And then Sammie woke up screaming "We are burning! We are burning!" and grabbed the bottle of water that was next to her coffee table and started to throwing water over the heater!" Kim said.

"I was asleep, what did you expect!" Sammie protested this time.

"But how did you manage to stop the fire?" asked Rick laughing.

"Vanessa threw her blanket over the heater and stopped the fire" Kim said.

"What about you Sammie what was yours?" Claudia asked

"Do you remember when you dyed your hair?" Vanessa asked between laughs.

"Do you mean when Kim made me to!" Sammie protested.

"I didn't make you to dye your hair!" Kim said in her defense.

"The thing is, that Sammie was complaining that no one took her seriously because she looked to young, so Kim convinced her to dye her hair the night before we went on campaign" Vanessa was saying before Miriya interrupted her.

"What color did you dye your hair?" Miriya asked.

"The box said…" Vanessa was saying and stopped while she tried to remember the name.

"Devilish black, I will never forget that name" Sammie said pissed off.

"Right, so Kim dyed Sammie's hair and she looked ok. The problem was in the morning. The dye must have kept working while we were sleeping and when we woke up Sammie "had" half of her hair blue and the other half black" Vanessa said and everyone started to laugh.

"It wasn't funny! I had to put on a sky mask to cover my hair and when we arrived to the boot camp the Sergeant that was in charge of us yelled at me because I was wearing a sky mask, she ordered me to take off the thing and I refused" Sammie said.

"And when the Sergeant was about send her to the brig Sammie almost between sobs removed the sky mask" said Kim trying to hide her laugh and then continued "The sergeant started to laugh and ordered her to put the sky mask on again and go to the barber as soon as she can" Kim said.

"And I swear that I will never dye my hair again" Sammie said while everyone laughed.

"Poor Sammie" Lisa said and tenderly put one hand on her shoulder.

"What about you Lisa, do you have a history from the academy?" Kim asked.

"Not that I can remember" Lisa said.

"Come on there must be a shameful scene from your time on the academy Lisa" Sammie said.

"Yes there is" Claudia said and started to laugh.

"Ok, ok there is one" Lisa said while she rested her back on the back of the chair and cleared her throat. "I was charged once with an article 34" She said and her cheeks turned pink.

"You what?" Rick said and choked on with what he was drinking.

"You got charged for fraternization?" Max asked with his eyes fully opened.

"Yes but it was all a huge mistake. Michael was Karl's best friend and had promised Karl that he will look up for me in the Academy and he did he always look out for me and take care of me until one day, one cadet that had a crush on him, and who he turned down because he was his superior officer, got jealous and reported us" Lisa said.

"You should have seen Lisa's face when the Lawyer from JAG came in to charge her, she almost faint" Claudia said.

"What did you expect my father will kill me when he founds out!" Lisa said and everyone laugh.

"But what happens in the end?" Vanessa asked.

"Nothing, the charges were redraws when the JAG investigator found out they weren't true" Lisa said.

"I have never imagine that you will be charged for fraternization" Kim said.

"Yeah that one was quite a history but that wasn't the one that I was talking about" Claudia said and looked at Lisa with a grin.

"Claudia don't" Lisa threatened her.

"Oh come on!" Claudia said with an evil smile.

"Yes come on Claudia tells us" The trio said at the same time.

"When Lisa was in her senior year of the academy there was this kid who was a nugget" Claudia started and Lisa interrupted her.

"You are so going to regret this" Lisa said and rolled her eyes, knowing that nothing would stop Claudia from telling the history.

"The poor kid was head over heals for Lisa but she never paid attention to him, until one day that I was in town and we went to the bar that's next to the academy and the kid was there, what was his name?" Claudia asked

"Jamie" Lisa mumbled and then crossed her arms.

"Right so Jamie, who apparently has seen Top Gun too many times, went next to us and started to sing to Lisa "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" with all his classmates as a chorus, in the bar that was full with people from the academy" She said between laughs and every one was laughing too. "Lisa started to sink in her seat and she was as red as neon tomato and by the time he stopped singing everyone was looking at her, so she had no other choice than let the kid sit next to her" Claudia finished.

"Oh that's so romantic, I would have loved for someone to have sang to me" Sammie said.

"It wasn't romantic it was shameful" Lisa protested.

"Something happened after that?" Vanessa asked.

"Of course not, I outranked him and it was against regulations, besides he was just a kid!" Lisa said.

"Kids have always fallen for you" Claudia said with a grin to piss Lisa off.

"Too bad I have never had a thing for kids" Lisa replied and then she raised an eyebrow when Claudia looked at her with a skeptical face. "Don't look at me like that, at least I have never gotten caught in action" Lisa said and an exclamation could be heard in the room.

"Lisa" Claudia warn her.

"You owe me Grant" Lisa said defiant.

"Fine" Claudia said careless and rested her back in the chair back.

"One day, shortly after I arrived on Macross Island Doctor Lang was giving me a guided tour of the facilities, and we ended our tour in the hangars. Doctor Lang wanted to show me Roy's VT, the first one that was fully operational and that had flown missions, the only problem was that when we got there Skull one was already busy in a demonstration" Lisa said holding a laugh. " Roy was showing Claudia the …mmm…how do I say this right? "the Skull one firepower"" Lisa said and everyone started to laugh.

"You mean Skull one? My VT?" Rick asked confused and Lisa only nodded "But how did you manage to? …I mean the canopy is really small… how did you two…?"

"There's only one Skull one Rick and honey you are too young for the details" Claudia said and gave him a clap in the back. "When you grow up you will figure it out for yourself" Claudia finished and everyone laughed while Rick turned red.

Suddenly a group of pilots came closer to the table clapping and yelling, "Rocket! Rocket!"

"What's that?" Vanessa asked.

"A rocket, you won't became CAG until you drink your rocket" Claudia said.

"And what exactly is a rocket?" Rick asked almost worried when the pilots arrived at his table with a huge glass that was full.

"I Believe Rick, that you don't want to know" Lisa said smiling and clapped him in the back.

"Come on sir you have to drink it and retrieve your insignia that's on the bottom of the glass" said one of the pilots who placed the glass in front of Rick.

"You can't be serious?" Rick said surprised.

"It's tradition Rick, you can't say no" Claudia said.

"Yes sir, it will be bad luck if you don't do it" said another pilot.

"Yes sir, and don't worry it's just rum and vodka and tequila and…" was saying another pilot when Rick interrupted him.

"And you expect me to drink all that?" he said almost scared.

"I told you that you didn't want to know what's in it" Lisa said smiling.

"Technically you only have to retrieve your insignia" Max said.

"You know about this?" Rick asked.

"Of course, it's tradition."

"Come on Sir!" several pilots said at once.

"But I…" Rick said but soon everyone that was there started to yell "Rocket!" so he has no other option than to drink from the glass until he retrieved his insignia of Captain and every one started to clap and celebrate.

"Now you are a CAG" Lisa said and put one hand on Rick's head and shook it.

"Lisa don't!" Rick protested.

"Sorry but the high ranking officer has to do that when you're finished, you can't turn your back on tradition" Lisa said laughing.

"Very funny" Rick said and sat down slowly.

"Now's your turn Ma'am" said one of the pilots.

"What?" Lisa asked surprised.

"Come Lisa, you became captain and coming from a military family like yours you should know about tradition" Claudia joked.

"But I didn't become a CAG, I don't have to drink a Rocket" Lisa protested.

"No but you do have to retrieve your insignia from a drink" Vanessa said.

"And here it is" Claudia said and placed a glass that was at least half a liter in front of Lisa. "A margarita, just the way you like it" she said and winked at Lisa.

"But I…" Lisa was saying when Rick interrupted her.

"It's tradition Lisa, you can't turn your back on tradition" Rick said.

"Fine" Lisa said as stubborn as always and started to drink from the glass; until finally she retrieved her insignia and every one cheered her.

After that the rest of the pilots returned to their tables and Lisa, Rick and the group continued talking and telling stories of the academy. The first one's to leave were Max and Miriya because they couldn't leave Dana with the nanny too late. The next one in go was Claudia because she was paged and then the trio invited Lisa and Rick to go out and dance to celebrate their promotions but neither Rick or Lisa where in the condition to go out. So they declined the invitation and promise the girls to take a cab to go home, because neither of them could drive.

_Present_

…"What do you want me to do?" he added, and they were so close that he could feel the warmth of Lisa's skin.

Lisa maintained his gaze, and instinctively bit her lower lip while she tried to think of how to answer him, but they were so close that she could hear the beat of his heart and it was so loud that it wouldn't allow her to think.

And suddenly, before they noticed they were kissing each other. Lisa didn't know if she had been the one who kissed him or if it had been him. Not that that mattered anymore, the fact was that they were kissing each other and it wasn't a friendly kiss, it was a deep, passionate kiss. She could feel how the air was starting to fail but she didn't care she was so immersed in the kiss.

At the beginning it had been a soft touch on the lips but only that was necessary to set off the spark and then everything escalated with neither of them able to control it or was it that neither of them actually wanted to control the situation?

Rick was as surprised as she was, but he couldn't stop either, he couldn't pull away from her. It was like magnetism what attracted him to her. He only had get closer to her to annoy her and suddenly he was kissing her, and God she tasted good, so good that it was intoxicating him. He wanted to get close to her, he wanted to grab her in his arms, he wanted to feel her. No, he definitely couldn't pull away from her.

Like everything between them it was a fight for control, they wanted to be in control even when they weren't able to control what they were doing. Rick pressed Lisa against the couch as if he didn't want her to slide away from him. At the beginning she didn't move, the sensation of having him that close was too good to let it go, she could actually feel how his heart beat against her own chest and his smell, she had always loved the way he smelled to her. It was a mixture of the sky and soap and Rick, and now it was as if his smell was hers. So she didn't react, she just lost herself in the feeling and ran her hands from Rick's shoulders up to his hair and tangled them there. But when the kiss intensified, if that could be possible, she finally reacted and pushed him against the back of the couch with out breaking the kiss, now she was in control, now he was the one who lost himself in the sensation.

Only one thing brought them both back to reality, the need for air. They had to break the kiss and when they did it they looked into each other's eyes. How had Lisa ended up in Rick's lap? She didn't know. Nor did Rick know how his hands had ended up tangled up between Lisa's jacket and blouse. They looked into each other's eyes for a while, with such intensity that they both could feel the sparks flying between them and then it hit them and they reacted to it.

They jumped away from each other and sat in the couch at a safe distance. Then Rick stood up and ran his hands through his hair. Lisa followed him and tried to pull herself back together while she paced across the room in the opposite direction of him.

"I'm sorry" Rick said finally.

"I'm sorry too" Lisa said quickly.

"I didn't mean to.." Rick said but couldn't find the right words to finish his sentence, because he still could not believe what he had almost done.

"Me neither" Lisa said and then she added "I mean you are my friend."

"I know, you are my best friend too."

"And I don't want to risk that."

"Me neither" Rick said and scratched his head. "I don't know what happened to me."

"Neither do I, I don't…I've never…I don't do this kind of thing" Lisa said nervously.

"I know" Rick said and they remained in silence avoiding looking at each other for a long time.

"So.." Lisa finally said after clearing her throat.

"So" Rick repeated unable to stop squeezing his hands nervously.

"What are we going to do now?" Lisa said and bit her lower lip.

"Nothing. I guess" Rick said complicated.

"We should forget this ever happened."

"Sure, I mean probably it was the alcohol, we both were a little bit drunk."

"A little bit?" Lisa asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well more than a little" Rick said and they remained in silence again. "So this never happened?"

"Never" Lisa stated.

"Because, I mean Lisa… you are very important to me, you are my best friend and I don't want to lose you."

"Me neither Rick, I don't want this to get between our friendship."

"It wont, it was just a stupid drunk thing."

"Good" Lisa said and nod with her head in a way to reassure what she has said, and then they both remain in silence.

"I should get going" Rick said still a little bit nervous.

"I think it will be the best."

"Goodnight Lisa" Rick said and smile to her.

"Goodnight Rick" Lisa said and start to walk to the door.

"Don't worry, I know the way out" Rick said and start to walk to the door. "Bye."

"Bye" she said and stood in the middle of the living room until she felt the door close, then she threw herself onto the couch and covered her face with her hands, trying to hide her mischievous smile. She could not believe what happened, even when she knew it was wrong, that they were friends, best friends and that there's a line that you don't cross it felt so good to kiss him and it had been such a different kiss from the one that they shared when they were prisoners. She just couldn't shake the feeling away, nor could she erase the smile from her face.

"It was a mistake Hayes, a mistake" she said to herself trying to convince herself.

"This never Happened" she said out loud and get off the couch "Never Happened" she said again serious, in her flight operator voice and started to walk to her room. She had only taken couple of steps when she giggled again and covered her face again.

Rick closed Lisa's house door and rested his weight against it, he could not believe what had just happened. He had kissed Lisa and it hadn't been a fraternal kiss or a silly kiss like the one they had shared, for what it seemed like a century ago now. This kiss had been, he just couldn't put it into words, just the fact of remembering that kiss made him feel like his body would combust at any moment. He couldn't have these feelings for Lisa, she was his friend, his best friend and he didn't want to cross that line. They were friends and friends do not kiss or at least they don't kiss the way they did.

He put his hands in his pockets and thanked God for the chilly wind and the snow that had fell early in the morning and the fact that his house was three blocks away, because right now he really needed cool off. But he couldn't shake the feeling away, he could not forget how good it had felt to kiss her, thinking of her right now it itched, it burned.

"Forget it Hunter, just forget it" He said out loud while he walked, but he couldn't.

He knocked on the door. Why he didn't ring the bell? He didn't know. Maybe because of the urge, maybe because he was desperate, mostly because he wasn't thinking.

"What? What is it?" the sleepy voice of Lisa said when the door opened. "Rick are you alright?" she asked when she recognized him and was fully awake.

"No I'm not" he said honestly.

"What happened?" She asked with concern.

"Since the other day, I can't…I try…but I can't, I can't stop thinking about what happened"

"Rick…" Lisa started but he interrupted her.

"I know that we said that we will forget that that ever happened, but I can't and it's driving me crazy" he said and paused before continuing "And I know that you will say that we should just forget it but I…" Rick was saying when Lisa put her hand on his mouth to shut him up.

"I was going to say that I can't forget what happened either" She said shyly.

He looked at her, searching for her eyes to find out if what she said was the truth. And when he met her gaze, he knew, and couldn't avoid a smile. He entered into Lisa's house and grabbed her in his arms. He'd been dying to hold her for what seemed an eternity.

They kissed each other with the same passion, but this time, this time he not only wanted to kiss her, he wanted her…

To be continued…..

Author's note: any similarities to certain tv show was intentional hehehe, what can I said I loved that show. Any mistake that I made about military protocol please forgive me. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll be waiting for reviews at can you wait for the next chapter? … a fight, a deal and a dangerous game.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Robotech or any of the characters. This was only written for fun

Author's note: This fic takes place during the missing years of reconstruction and it's an AU, so I hope you like it but I must warn you this came up to my mind after watching certain tv show too many times, so I can guarantee that this will be full of surprises.

Reviews: please, I'll be waiting them. It's what keeps me writing.

To: Carla, honey this was your b-day present and I promise I will finish this ASAP. Special thanks to Dwparsnip, thank you so much for been my beta and for all the patience and work that it takes to fix my fanfics, I really appreciate it. To every one who takes the time to read it and to everyone on the DYRL forum.

**Friendly Fire**

Chapter 2

"Tension"

He knocked on the door. Why he didn't ring the bell? He didn't know. Maybe because of the urge, maybe because he was desperate, mostly because he wasn't thinking.

"What? What is it?" the sleepy voice of Lisa said when the door opened. "Rick are you alright?" she asked when she recognized him and was fully awake.

"No I'm not" he said honestly.

"What happened?" She asked with concern.

"Since the other day, I can't…I try…but I can't, I can't stop thinking about what happened"

"Rick…" Lisa started but he interrupted her.

"I know that we said that we will forget that that ever happened, but I can't and it's driving me crazy" he said and paused before continuing "And I know that you will say that we should just forget it but I…" Rick was saying when Lisa put her hand on his mouth to shut him up.

"I was going to say that I can't forget what happened either" She said shyly.

He looked at her, searching for her eyes to find out if what she said was the truth. And when he met her gaze, he knew, and couldn't avoid a smile. He entered into Lisa's house and grabbed her in his arms. He'd been dying to hold her for what seemed an eternity.

They kissed each other with the same passion, but this time, this time he not only wanted to kiss her, he wanted her…

The feel of her bare, soft skin against his it felt better than what he had ever imagined. It felt so good to have her in his arms, to have her, she was perfect, everything was perfect. They were moving together in a rhythm that it seemed natural for them. They had become one and he felt he was reaching the edge.

He looked down at her, still unable to believe what was happening; she looked at him only for a second and then closed her eyes and gave herself up to the feeling. It surprised him how much she trusted him and that just made him want her even more, he had never realized how much he wanted her until now; so he gave himself up to the feeling too, to this unwritten choreography that their bodies seemed to know better than themselves and that caused him to feel a sensation that was better than anything he had ever feel. It was a feeling beyond the physical sensation that was related to the moment they were sharing and he didn't understand what it was.

The soft moans of Lisa made him open his eyes again, the rhythm that they shared had increased both in speed and intensity and as he felt her nails clench in his back he knew that they both were reaching the point of no return. She dragged him were he wanted go, even closer to her and he didn't know how much longer he could hold on. Suddenly she tensed and a suffocated moan escaped from her throat. The sound of Lisa moaning his name as she clenched her nails harder on his back again while she let herself fall into the sensation that ran across her entire body. He knew that it was time to let himself fall into the same sensation; he could feel how the electric shivers were taking control of his entire body when suddenly a sound got his attention, a steady annoying metallic sound.

Rick woke up and with his right hand punched and smashed the alarm clock and cursed it. It was the third time that he woke up this week with the same dream and the third alarm clock that he broke. He got up annoyed, turned on the cold water in his shower and stepped into it without even taking his pyjamas off. He just stood there, letting the cold water cool him off and wash the dream away.

He really needed these dreams to stop. He couldn't wake up every morning and take a cold shower, that just wasn't right, it was worst than if he was back in boot camp. Finally he turned off the cold water and walked outside the shower annoyed, shaking from head to toes, but all he did was grab a towel and dry himself.

"Nice way to start your day Hunter" he said to himself annoyed and started to put his uniform on.

When he was fully dressed he went to the kitchen and made himself a coffee as he was still shaking because of the cold shower. He checked the flight assignments and prayed for Lisa not to be on air traffic control today, but of course today wasn't his lucky day.

Things between them after what happened "that day" had been tense, not that anyone else noticed that something was odd between them, but he could feel it. There was this tension in the air, this weird energy between them that on one side dragged him towards her and at the same time made him want to run away as fast as he could from her. At least they hadn't seen each other too often this week, only once in a meeting to plan an operation and with his luck it has been with all the high ranking officers of the base. And that was a good thing for him, that way he was forced to keep his mind on the Op and not have flashbacks of his dreams. But to his misfortune he could not bring the entire staff of high ranking officers in his cockpit every time he flew a mission and Lisa was the one thon thethjth th e other side of the commo screen.

Rick had never enjoyed hearing Lisa at the other side of the commo screen to be honest. At the beginning it was because he found her annoying, later it was because every time they talked it seemed like the entire RDF was paying attention to what they said in order to feed the rumour mill. But now, right now, hearing Lisa created a physical reaction in his body. And not a good one if you are wearing a suit that is designed to tighten on your body so you can resist increasing g-forces

So here he was heading towards his plane, in a bad mood again. He had even screamed to a poor rookie about some stupid thing that to be honest had no importance. And Max once again had given him a clap in the shoulder and told him "Boss if you need to talk you know where to find me". What on Earth could he say to Max? That he's been dreaming of Lisa, and not in a pure friendly way, but more like in an X-rated way. He just shook his head and climbed into his Vt.

"Air Control, this is Skull one requesting permission to take off" he said automatically while he finished the security check of his of Vt.

"Skull one this is air control. You got permission to take off on runway 3-B, the coordinates for your mission will be delivered to you once you're in the air" Said the cool voice of Lisa on the other side of the screen, making him jump, even when he knew that she would be on air traffic today it still had taken him off guard.

"Roger that air control. We're flying recon today is that correct?" He asked after clearing his throat, trying to sound as professional as he could.

"Affirmative, just recon over Antarctica we just need thermal images of possible Zentraedi activity" Lisa said calmly, looking at him straight in the eyes through the commo screen, like always. "_How does she always manage to be cool and in control?"_ Rick thought to himself and shook his head.

"Just fly by and take a look, roger that Lisa" he said a little bit more relaxed, mostly because he had already started the engines of his Vt and was about to take off. Being in the air always calmed him down.

"You are clear to take off" Lisa said and gave a pause "and be careful, Rick."

"I'm always careful Lisa" he said and winked at her instinctively while his plane took off.

Had he winked at her? Lisa asked to herself after they broke communication. "_It was probably just something in his eye"_ she said to herself while she sat at her control station. She repeated the last phrase in her mind one more time; she needed to convince herself that there was nothing else behind that.

The last days after "the incident" the promotion days have been a torture to her. She had found herself dreaming and daydreaming about him, and just the fact of remembering those dreams made her flush as red as a neon sign. She had been avoiding him as much as she could but at the same time trying not to, so he wouldn't think that something weird was happening. In addition to that she buried herself in work. She was working like three times more than what she should in order to not think about him and it worked in a way. She didn't think about him except when she checked the flight schedule, or planned an Op, or watched a Vt, or watched the skies, or entered her house and watched her couch…

That couch, the couch on her living room had become a forbidden territory, every time she looked at it she couldn't stop remembering what had happened there, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that she started to think about what ifs…what would have happened if they didn't stop the kiss? What if they have been more intoxicated? What would have happened then? And then she started to daydream, she imagined that Rick returned to her place and grabbed her in his arms and kissed her, a kiss filled with passion and desire, and then everything was just too fast and too sensual. They tangled their hands in each others bodies unable to break apart, the attraction between them was just to strong, too powerful to do anything other than surrender to it. They fell onto the couch clutching at each other and he looked at her, with his baby blue eyes that were now a little bit darker because of his burning desire. He just looked at her with tenderness and smiled at her the sweetest smile she had ever seen from him and softly kissed her on the forehead, then trailed his lips all the way down to her mouth with soft, tender kisses. Before kissing her again he gently moved one of his hands from her hip to her face and caressed her tenderly, while looking deep into her eyes as if he was asking permission to make his next move. She didn't need to say the words, she just looked into his eyes and he understood that what he wanted was the same as she wanted; to reassure him that she was sure of what her eyes were telling him she placed her hands behind his neck and dragged him towards her, and kissed him deeply. While they kissed, his hand moved slowly away from her face, to her neck and then to the collar of her jacket. He looked at her in the eyes one more time and she knew then that there was no one else on his mind, that she was all that he wanted, she was the only one that he wanted. It was just the two of them, together, so close that she couldn't tell were her body ended and his began, just the anticipation of what his next move would be made her arch her back.

She still could feel the electric shivers run through her body; she bit her lower lip in order to get back to reality. She couldn't be having those "dreams" while she was on duty. She was working!. She thanked God that Claudia wasn't in the Command room, because she probably would have noticed the tension between her and Rick and it would probably take Claudia just a second to realize what it was, that was one of the reasons why she had been avoiding her as someone avoids the plague.

The only time that she saw Rick this week had been during a briefing to plan new operations with the high ranking officers of the base. She had never been more nervous in a briefing before, lucky for her Rick didn't sit in front of her or next to her. He sat a couple of seats away from her, but just the fact of hearing him talk slowly, with that deep voice that he used every time that he was trying to explain something or make a point in front of other people. It just affected her, it just made her remember the way that he had looked into her eyes and asked her "_What do you want me to do?"_ She could deal with the fact of hearing him talk on the commo screen, she was used to that. As a matter of fact watching him on the commo screen after the "incident" didn't have any effect on her, but hearing him there live, talking with that deep voice, that was a different thing. She had lost track of the meeting several times.

"Back to the work Hayes" she said to herself and started reading some papers that were on her desk and by the time she finished reading them she had completely forgot about Rick. As matter of fact she had never felt happier to read the notification that she was ordered to re-qualify her status as an active for combat officer, because there was no other way to keep her mind busy than preparing herself for active field combat, it had worked for her on the academy and it will work again.

Lisa went to the firing rage. It had been a long time since she had last time fired a weapon so she figured it would be a nice place to start. So she went to the gunny in charge and asked for a weapon and booth to start practicing. She used to go hunting with her grandfather in England when her mother was still alive, not that she ever hunted anything but she spent the time his grandfather and learn how to shoot. Lisa took the gun in her hands, and checked it again to ensure that everything was in place. Then she left it on the bar in front of her and placed the safety glasses on, took the gun in her hands again and looked at the target and fired. After she fired the entire round she pulled the button to retrieve the target sheet.

She couldn't avoid a frown when she had the paper in her hands. What happened to her good shot? She set up another target sheet and was about to load her gun again when she noticed that she had forgot to bring extra ammo. So she left her gun on the bar and was leaving her booth when she crashed against someone.

"I'm sorry" She and the other person said at the same time.

"Rick?" she said surprised.

"Lisa" he said after hearing her saying his name.

"What are you doing here?" she asked uncomfortably. She wasn't expecting to find him here, after all she had came here to not to think about him, and yet here he was.

"I came to practice; I was ordered to re-qualify for active field duty. What are you doing here?" he asked nervously, of all people that he would have expected to find there Lisa wasn't on that list. And now that weird aura that had surrounded them during last week was present once again.

"The same thing" she said and couldn't avoid a smile because of the irony. "Actually it's funny that we both were ordered to re-qualify". She said.

"Maybe they don't want the captains to become soft."

"You're afraid that you will end up like Maistroff?" she asked teasing him. Feeling more relaxed, maybe this was all that they needed to set things back to normal, just to run into each other and be themselves again.

"Very funny" he said and looked at the target sheet that was over Lisa's bar. "So how are you doing?" he said and went to pick up the sheet but Lisa moved faster and took it in her hands. "Is it that bad?" he asked with a grin in his face. Suddenly the weird aura started to fade; maybe this was all that they need for things to get back to normal.

"It's been while ok, and no it's not that bad" She said crossing her arms.

"I believe you" he said with a smile in his face. The fact that she always wanted to be the best amused him it "after all you were first in your class."

"What about you, how are you doing?" she asked challenging him.

"I haven't shot yet" he said.

"Then be my guest" she said and pushed the button and the target sheet was put in place.

"Has anyone told you that you are really competitive?" he said with a grin.

"I don't like to compete but I do enjoy wining, that's why I always win" she said raising an eyebrow.

"You can't win them all" he said smirking to her. He loaded his weapon and shot. When he finished he pushed the button and the target sheet came to his hands. "Not bad 3 in the chest 2 in the head" he said with a wining smile. "Now it's your turn".

"You're showing off" She said without even looking at him. After picking up some of his ammo she reloaded her gun and fired. When she finished she frowned again, she knew he had won this time.

"You're killing that poor trigger, that's why you aren't hitting the target" he stated arms crossed over his chest a couple steps behind her.

"Maybe you were just lucky last time" she said raising an eyebrow.

"Right" he said and loaded his gun and shot again. Unfortunately for Lisa this time his shooting was way much better than the last. "Do you really call this luck?" he said smirking while he showed her his target sheet.

"Fine, you can shoot and hit the target, I'm impressed Captain" she said passing next to him while she loaded her gun one more time. "So can I" she stated and fired again.

When the target sheet arrived in her hands she was starting to get upset, even through this one was better than the last one, she knew she could fire better and it was pissing her off that he was smirking and telling her what was wrong with the way she fired.

"The problem is this" he said and stood behind her just when she had finished loading her gun to shoot again "First, be gentle with the trigger" he said and placed his left hand over hers and made her release the gun a little bit "And your posture is too rigid, let it go" he said and with his right hand he shook her shoulders.

"Since when you became a shooting expert?" she asked without taking her eyes away from the target.

"Since I shoot better than you" he said with a grin. He knew she getting more and more upset with every comment he made and he could barely hide his smile as he stepped ahead to get even closer to her "What's your target the head or the heart?" he asked almost whispering in her ear.

"The head, it's faster and safer" she said and swallowed hard, he was invading her space and she couldn't figure out if that was a good or bad thing.

"Rational as always Captain" he said and couldn't avoid a smile. "So if you are going for the head then you should shift your weight, your hip is too forward" after saying that he place one hand in her hip and move it backwards. The moment he placed his hand on her hip, he knew he should have never done that. They were too close, and it seemed as if the booth was getting smaller and smaller and at the same time it started to fade away, all he could see or feel was her.

Was it just her or was the booth getting smaller and smaller and Rick was getting closer and closer? She could feel his hand placed on her right hip, and she could feel the heat that was flowing from his palm to her body even through the fabric of her uniform.

She turned her face to face him and say something, but all she could do was turn in his direction and freeze when she saw his eyes. She opened her mouth trying to articulate a word but words didn't come to her mouth and she felt her knees turn weak because of the proximity. She wasn't sure if she could remain standing on her own feet and she finally ended up resting her weight against him.

The feel of her breath against his neck, gave him goosebumps on the back of his neck and he instinctively pressed his hand on her hip harder, bringing her closer to him, and letting go his other hand from hers and from the gun and placing it on her other hip. Then he slowly turned her so she could face him, he never moved his eyes from her lips, he wanted so much to kiss her, to explore those perfect sweet lips of hers.

She felt the pressure of his hands on her hips trying to make her turn in his direction, so she carefully left her gun on the bar in front of her. Once she had done that she placed her hands in his arms and took a step back bringing him with her until they collided against the bar. He bent down towards her, looking for her mouth and, for Lisa, it was as if she was being drawn towards him, she wanted to kiss him so badly that it itched. Then he stopped for a second and slowly removed her safety glasses. Lisa just smiled at him and pulled his over his head. Only then he continued to move, to cover the inch or so that separated their lips but which seemed like a mile, their lips where barely touching when Lisa's pager started to ring. The sound surprised her so much that she couldn't avoid a jump and the magic of the moment was broken.

She cursed the pager and got away from Rick, sliding between his arms. She checked the message and was glad and mad at the same time, she had to leave which probably was the best thing that could happen. She turn into Rick's direction who was resting his weight on his hands where he had them placed against the walls of the booth.

"I have to go" she said in a barely audible voice.

"Duty calls" he replied not even turning in her direction, his eyes were fixed on the walls.

"Yes, the admiral wants to see me" she said and remained silent for a while, unable to figure out what to say or what to do. "See you tomorrow" she said casually.

"Sure" he said only turning his head towards her.

"Bye" she said with a polite smile. And started to walk away.

"Bye" he answered and then turned his head back to wall. He closed his eyes when he heard the sound of her footsteps fade away.

What the hell was wrong with him? He asked to himself, he had almost kissed her again. But he couldn't control himself, just the fact of having her so close to him triggered all these sensations in him. His blood seemed to burn him from within and his heart was pounding so fast in his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to vanquish the memory away, trying to stop the urge that he was feeling for Lisa right now, but it was impossible. It was impossible for him to let go, and he knew that after having her so close in his arms again not even a cold shower will work.

Lisa was reading the latest reports of the day in her office. If she had been working a lot lately after what had happened yesterday now she was literally buried in work. So now she was in her office with Kim and Sammie planning a new operation.

"I think we should send Skull there, I mean Miriya is still respected among the Zentraedi" Kim said.

"Great idea Kim, Miriya can be the liaison with a few of the malcontents and sending the CAG there will leave Leonard happy" Lisa said.

"Maybe you should go, Rick has never been good with diplomacy" Kim said.

"Actually I think you will have to go. Rick requested permission to be stationed at New Los Angeles base for a week or as long as it takes to check things there now that he is the CAG." Sammie said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Lisa asked surprised.

"I just got the notification from Admiral Gloval's office that he will leave first thing in morning for New Los Angeles." Sammie said confused.

"You didn't know about it?" asked Kim who had noticed how Lisa's face had turned livid.

"Of course I didn't know about it, this came from Gloval's office?" Lisa asked.

"Yes, Lisa I just got the notification" Sammie said and handled her a folder.

"This is great, this is just great" Lisa said and stood up with the folder in her hands.

"Where are you going?" asked Kim.

"I will not tolerate that he bypass my authority, I'm in charge here! And I have to find out that my CAG is leaving the day before he leaves" Lisa almost yelled.

"But he…" Sammie was saying but she remained silent after Kim's killer look.

"You're dismissed we can finish this tomorrow" Lisa said when she was already at the door. After saying that she left her office, slamming the door.

"Poor Rick" Kim said.

"Yep, I definitely wouldn't like to be in his shoes" Sammie said while she picked up her folders to leave Lisa's office.

Lisa knocked loudly on the door of Rick's house, she was beyond mad. She had both her jaw and the folder in her arms tightened.

"Yeah?" Rick said when he opened the door and saw Lisa standing there "Lisa, what are you doing here?" He managed to articulate after seeing her face, she probably had found out that he was leaving.

"I need to talk to you" she said coldly.

"Come in, sorry for the mess" he said stepping away from the door to let her in.

"Don't worry this isn't a courtesy visit" she said hardly.

"So what bringings you here?" he said scratching his head, he knew perfectly well why she was here.

"You know perfectly well why I'm here. Would you mind explaining to me what this is?" she said and hardly pressed the folder against his chest.

"Lisa I.." he was about to say but she interrupted him.

"You what? You decided that the opinion of your direct superior officer didn't matter?"

"It's not that. The New Los Angeles base needs help with the pilots and I'm the CAG in case you've forgotten" Rick said starting to lose his temper; he didn't want to explain to her his reason for leaving

"No I haven't forgotten that, but it seems that you forgot that I'm your superior officer. You deliberately went over my head."

"I didn't" he was saying but she interrupted him again.

"Yes you did, you broke the chain of command and went straight to Gloval and I do not appreciate it."

"Well excuse me for trying to do my job."

"You know damn well, as I do, that this has nothing to do with doing your job."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about" Lisa stated and crossed her arms and looked at him straight in the eyes waiting for an answer.

"What do you want me to say Lisa?" He asked raising his hands, exasperated.

"The truth" She answered.

"Fine, yes I bypass you because I didn't want to see you after what happened yesterday."

"I can't believe this" Lisa said shaking her head.

"Well excuse me if I'm not as cold blooded as you are, ok? But all the things that happened since the promotion day, they just aren't right and I need time.

"And do you think that I believe that things are right?" she asked looking at him upset. "But we made it clear that we aren't going to let this get between our friendship."

"Well that's exactly what I'm trying to do, save our friendship" He said upset.

"Nice way to save it, running away and bypassing me."

"You wouldn't understand me even if I told you, so we should leave this here ok? The situation is not easy for me period." He said and turned his back to her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked in disbelief.

"Lisa I'm a man ok, and you say it better than me. I'm not as cool and in control as you are. That's why I need time to cool off" He said and turned in her direction.

Lisa just looked at him and looked at the ceiling to then cover her face with her hands in exasperation.

"This absolutely fantastic, so now because I'm a woman I'm not supposed to have a problem with what happened?"

"It's different for you."

"Different? Different how?" she said and got closer to him.

"Just different ok, I'm a man, I have hormones" He said and started to pace around her. "there are things happening that I can't control, I just can't and I can't erase what happened from my head either, so I'm stuck. I can't handle things as easy as you can."

"You really think this has been easy for me?" she asked and looked at him with a threatening look. "Well I got news for you, it hasn't. I had trouble focusing on work, on sleep, I can't shake the feeling of what happened that day out of away from my head, God I can't even sit in my own damn couch because I…"Lisa was saying when suddenly Rick grabbed her in is arms.

"Shut up, just shut up" he barely articulated and kissed her, deeply with all the desire that he had been holding in all these days.

She was caught by surprise by this sudden impulse of his, she was petrified but he was kissing her with so much need, with so much intensity that she was sure that her heart had never beat so fast and so hard in all her life. There was only one thing that she could do and that was kiss him back.

"This is what I was talking about when I said that there were things that I couldn't control" he said when they broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers without opening their eyes.

"Well you certainly made a point" Lisa said still trying to catch her breath; eyes closed, her forehead against him. "But I wasn't lying when I said that it hasn't been easy for me" she said and opened her eyes and looked at him. "Because it hasn't, because I can't stop wanting to do this" she said and kissed him back the same way that he had kissed her.

He kissed her back and pulled her closer to him, grabbing her by the waist with one hand and leaving one in her face. She felt so good in his arms; all he wanted to do was to hold her tight and never let go. He lowered his hand from her waist to her hip and pulled her even closer, until there was no space between them.

"I think…" Rick said with a deep voice but was unable to finish.

"We shouldn't be doing this" Lisa said with her lips still touching his.

"This isn't right" Rick added and breathing against her neck, trying to decide if he should kiss her there or not.

"We should stop" Lisa said in his ear while she ran her hands trough his hair.

"If you tell me to stop I will" Rick could barely articulate while he kissed her again.

"Will you?" She asked voice faltering, taking his face in her hands and looking into his eyes. "Will you stop if asked you to?"

"Will you ask me to stop?" Rick said looking at her intensely, desperately. He wanted her so much that it was killing him, but if she asked him to stop he would.

She held his gaze, looked at him deeply as if she was searching for something and then she just surrendered. She surrendered to his magnetic blue eyes, to their intensity, to the desire that they emanated and that was melting her. Lisa kissed him again, kissed him as if life was trapped in his mouth and she was dying, when the truth was that she had never felt more alive in her life.

And that was it. He took her his arms and pulled her closer to him again until there was no space between them. He lifted her from the floor still kissing her and started to lead them to his bedroom. Nothing would stop them, the world could collapse outside, the Zentraedi could attack again, it could be the end of the world but nothing would stop them, nothing.

They fell onto his bed, hands tangled in each other's bodies, desperate to explore, to touch each other even through the clothes. It was as if their bodies had been expecting this moment for a life time, they were moving as if they had done this before, as if it was natural for them. They seemed to know what the other one want, where to touch, where to kiss and what to do; the feeling was so intoxicating, so powerful that neither of them knew how much they could resist it and the same time they couldn't let it go, they couldn't stop searching for each other, couldn't stop the need to be drawn into the other.

They were melting into one, skin against skin, moving as if they were one, feeling what the other felt at the same time. A sensation that neither of them had ever felt before, a sensation so powerful that they felt the need to touch, to feel the other to hold on to this physical bond that was driving them across a new world of sensations. Just with a quick look into each other eyes, the connection was beyond a physical one and all the sensations that they were feeling just raised, it increased to the point that they just couldn't take it any more, until they were consumed by it.

Rick was laying sideways looking at her, still unable to process what had happened. She was there with her eyes close, laying on her back more beautiful that he could ever remember seeing her. Slowly she turned in his direction and opened her eyes, she looked at him for a minute and then smiled and covered her face with her hands.

"What?" he asked amused by her reaction. He brought her closer to him and kissed her hair.

"I can't…"she said and giggled. "I can't believe that we just…" she couldn't finish, she felt too ashamed to finish the sentence.

"I know" he said unable to erase the smile from his face.

"I have never done this" she said and then nervously added "Not this…I mean this, I have never…" she tried to say but just couldn't find the words and realized that she was turning redder with every word she said.

"I know what you mean Lisa" He said and put one hand on her face to calm her. "I never had friends with benefits either, if you can call it that" he said unsure if the last words he said were the right ones.

"This is so embarrassing" she said covering her face one more time.

"Well at least it's me, not some random guy from a bar" he said.

"I will never…" she protested and looked at him and found out that he was laughing.

"I was joking Lisa" he said. They remained in silence looking into each other eyes.

"I better go" she finally said avoiding his gaze.

"Hey" he said and touched her face to make her stop. "Do you…" he asked and this time he was the one who couldn't find the words.

"No Rick I don't regret what happened, it's just that I need to think, I need to…and you're travelling tomorrow morning and it's late, I should be going" she said slowly, looking at him from time to time.

"I don't regret it either" he stated, looking at her in the eyes so she could see that he was honest. "But I don't know. What's going to happen now?" he asked confused.

"I don't know" she said honestly.

"Don't you think we should talk about it?" he asked unsure.

"Yes, but not now because right now, well right now we aren't thinking" she said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah" he said and smiled at her too.

"So maybe this trip of yours will help us" she said and sat up on the bed covering herself with the sheet.

"See that trip wasn't such a bad thing" he said with a grin.

"Yeah right" she said rolling her eyes.

"So are we ok?" he asked a little bit nervously.

"I guess" she said looking at him.

"I hope so, I don't want to…" he said and caressed her right cheek tenderly.

"Everything will be fine" she said and smiled at him. Then she moved closer to him and kissed him on the forehead. "Now I really have to go".

"I know" he said looking at her.

"Would you mind?" she asked smiling shyly.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Turn around so I can…" she said and gestured that she wanted to get up from the bed.

"Oh yeah sure, sorry" he said and flushed.

One week later.

"Hi" said Lisa opening the door of her house.

"Hi" said Rick smiling at her.

"Come in" she said and moved away form the door. "So how was your stay in new LA?" she asked while she walked towards the living room.

"Fine, how was your trip to South America?" he asked while he sat on the couch.

"Fine, I mean besides Leonard it was fine" she said and sat in front of him.

"Is it me or have you got a tan?" he asked, raising and eyebrow.

"Maybe, I spent most of the time in the field" she answered with a smile.

"So you got a tan and I got to spend all my time in an office checking paperwork" he complained shaking his head.

"The price to pay for becoming important in the RDF" she said teasingly.

"Right, the price to pay for becoming Captain" he said sarcastically.

"I can't complain. Kim and I even found the time to have some Caipiriñas in Brazil" She said with a grin.

"Are you taunting me Captain?" he asked crossing his arms.

"Maybe" she said with an innocent smile.

They remained in an awkward silence until Rick finally spoke.

"So?" he asked.

"So?" she asked without looking at him.

"Did you find time to think?" he asked.

"I did, and you?"

"Me too" he said and started to play with his hands nervously. "And?"

"And" she said thoughtfully "well we both leave pretty clear that our friendship is very important for both of us."

"Of course, you…our friendship is very important to me. I don't know if could have made it through this last year without you" he said avoiding her gaze, feeling a little bit embarrassed for what he had said.

"You know it's the same for me, you are very important to me too" she said and avoided his gaze too.

"Thanks" he said and smiled at her. "That's why I don't want us to tear apart because of what happened."

"Me neither, I mean we are both grown ups and well one thing lead to another" she said and felt how her cheeks were turning red.

"It's not like there was much to do, everything that was happening between us after promotion day was really affecting us" he said very softly.

"I know, all that unresolved sexual tension was really affecting us" Lisa said and stood up.

"Unresolved sexual tension?" Rick asked raising an eyebrow. "Where did you come up with those terms?" he asked amused and surprised.

"Just say that I used to watch too much Tv before entering the Academy, anyway my point is that it was really affecting us and…" she said but couldn't end the sentence.

"And we…well I guess we dealt with it the only way we could" he said feeling that he was turning redder with every word he said.

"I guess so too" she said and turned her back to him, took a deep breath and then turned back to face him. "So I guess that now that we released all the "tension" things can get back to normal."

"I guess" he said and stood up too and started to pace nervously. "I guess now everything will be as it used to be."

"Me too" she said and looked at the floor. "Will things turn back to be the way they used to be?" she asked to herself, watching how Rick paced in her living room like he was a cat in a cage.

Rick ran a hand through his hair and finally said what he was thinking. "What if the "tension" appears again?" he asked so fast that Lisa could barely understand what he said, but it took one look at him to figure it o out what he had asked and she couldn't avoid a smile.

"Do you think it will appear again?" she asked unable to hide a grin.

"Well there's always the chance" he said getting closer to her.

"Maybe you are right. It's not like we have too much free time to meet other people."

"Practically the only contact with people that we have is with each other."

"I know and well, what happened the other day. Well it was something pretty hormonal, I mean we had been working so hard lately I guess all that tension…well it got expressed in what happened."

"That's my point, we have to deal with so much pressure and to have to add to all that all this "Unresolved sexual tension" as you call it is just too much, but I'm not sure if we could help it I mean it was pretty clear that we can't really control it."

"I know, what happened was…well uncontrollable" Lisa said and bit her lower lip.

"More than uncontrollable, the way we felt…how things happened, everything was so intense and unexpected that I can't possibly assure it won't happen again" he said and released a little bit the collar of his shirt.

"So what did you suggest we should do?" she asked taking a step back from him, she felt inevitably drawn to move towards him, the way he was talking, the tone he was using. She better step back, it wasn't safe to be that close to him.

"Well it seems to be that this is a problem with only one possible solution" he said and once again got closer to her, until they were almost nose to nose.

"Really?" she asked unable to hide a grin.

"I can only think in one way to solve this problem."

"Just one solution to solve this problem and preserve our friendship?"

"Yeah, and well I'm willing to make some sacrifices in order to preserve our friendship, Captain" he said with a grin looking into her eyes.

"So thoughtful of you Captain, I'm really moved."

"A man got to do what a man got to do" he said shrugging his shoulders and smiling at her.

"So are you suggesting that in order to preserve our friendship we should…?" She asked raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

"I'm just saying that we should release the "tension" every time it appears, Captain" he said looking at her intensely.

Lisa couldn't avoid a smile and bit her lower lip. "Well since we are talking about saving our friendship" she said looking at him innocently.

"That' my point, save our friendship" he said looking at her with the same innocent eyes that she had when she looked at him.

"And if you are willing to make some sacrifices then I guess I should make some too" she said and this time she was the one who moved closer to him.

"Would you be willing?" he asked and couldn't avoid putting one of his hands on her waist. He had been dying to touch her again ever since he had walked into her house. Actually he'd been dying to touch her ever since she had left his place, but the problem wasn't touching her, the problem was, would he be able to stop now that he touched her again?

"Maybe" she said and paused to look into his eyes, those deep blue eyes that she had never seen until promotion day. "Maybe not" She added and slid away from him.

Rick was taken by surprise by her words, but most of all by her action. It almost hurt not to feel her close to him, he search for her in the room, for her eyes. And he finally found her just a couple steps ahead of him, with a huge grin on her face and he couldn't avoid a smile.

"I was kidding the other night when I said that I knew what buttons to push to make you do something. I never was really sure about it until now, your face was really priceless" Lisa said with an evil smile.

"I think" he said and took a step forward and grabbed the belt of her pants and bring her closer to him until their hips collide against each other. "That I also know what buttons to push" He said raising an eyebrow.

"You do?" she asked in disbelief and before she could say nothing else he kissed her on the neck.

"Rick" she barely articulated while he kissed her.

"You are not the only one who knows…" Rick was saying when he suddenly stopped and moved Lisa's t-shirt to expose her shoulder. "Is this a tan line?" he asked and looked at her in the eyes with a smile.

"It could be" she answered with a grin.

"You are so going to pay for this; you were tanning while I was trapped in an office buried in paperwork!"

"It's not what you…" Lisa was saying but Rick kissed her again on the neck and started to trail kisses along the tan mark. "Rick" Lisa giggled because he was tickling while he kissed her on the neck.

"Not a single word Captain" he said and looked at her in the eyes smiling and then kissed her passionately while she pushed him onto the couch.

To be continued….


End file.
